Kawasaki FH580V 19hp... Low output?

[mrbobian]

I have the 19hp kaw on a 48'' Lazer Z CT with only 290hrs, maintained and cared for as much as one could. Also, it is past the two year Kaw warrenty. We fianlly got some warm weather yesterday when I was mowing and I started to notice an on and off clicking coming from the engine. Very faint so I ingored it for a little bit but finally decided to check it out. Of course I check the obvious like oil, plugs, air filter, ect... Then I got to thinking I haven't cleaned the cooling fins in a while so I removed the fan shroud to find alot of crap packed in around the heads. After vaccuming and blowing away the debris I put everything back together and it started up fine but sounded a little different. Then I went to cut again and when I hit the PTO I notices the rpms dropped much more then usuall and when I thottled up it didn't really go up to where it needed to. Once in grass in bogged down to almost nothing...

After talking with some people, a lot of swear works and scratching my head I checked the coils... both good. Then I pulled the valve covers. One side seemed fine however, the second one I pulled the cover and the pushrod slide right out on to my lap :confused: I got it put back in a put together but no difference in output. I am stressed and confused but at 17 years I don't know enough about engines to continue. What do you guys say?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[Shasta Lake Landscaping]

Maybe that push rod coming out has something to do with one cylinder not working properly, hence the loss of power?

[mrbobian]

Well definately one cylinder was not working properly because I checked the compression and the right side has zero. Nothing. So i took it to the dealer... looks like i'll be watching the grass grow for the next ten days...

[DT Lawn Care]

I had the same problem and finally found it and fixed it today on my dad's FH580V. The deck would only engage halfway and the motor had half of it's power of course because it was running on only one cylinder. Turned out the pushrods on the #2 valves loosened up and fell out.

Problem solved.

[mrbobian]

Consider yourself lucky. I ended up needing a new cylinder and head. They also need to hone the block some. Warranty did not cover it.